Wire-twister.



A. F. MOORE.

WIRE TWISTER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. I2. 1916.

13%,368. Patented July 3, 1917.

ALBERT F. MOORE, OF NEW MADRID, MISSOURI.

WIRE-TWIS'IER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 3, 1917.

Application filed August 12, 1916. Serial No. 114,633.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT F. MOORE, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Madrid, in the county of New Madrid and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wire-Twisters; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to wire working, and more especially to twisting implements such as have a revolving head; and the object of the same is to simplify the construction of an implement of this character and to provide a contact finger by means of which the convolutions of the coil being formed are pressed closely onto the stretch which they inclose. With this and other objects in view the invention consists in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, and shown in the drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a perspective View of this implement in use andas just completing a Western Union splice.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the pliers open, with one jaw partly broken away and in section.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the revoluble head or spool, and of the core thereof removed from its bore, and Figs. 4 and 5 are a side elevation and a cross section respectively through said core.

Broadly speaking, this implement comprises the pliers and the revoluble and re movable head and its core, and when said head is removed from the pliers the latter may be used in the customary way. This implement comprises two handles 1 and 2 crossing each other and pivoted at 3, beyond which they are extended into upper and lower jaws 4 and 5 whose contiguous sides near the pivot are scalloped so that when the jaw faces are pressed together the registering scallops produce a hole or bearing 6 for the revoluble head. The lower jaw in Fig. 2 is broken away to show the pivoted and spring pressed pawl 7 projecting into said bearing. The pliers may have wire cutters 8 and other adjuncts of a combination tool, but in any event I prefer that the remote ends of the handles 1 and 2 have means such as the loop 9 for connecting them with each other when the jaws are closed and the bearing 6 is complete.

The revoluble head has a spool-shaped body indicated generally at 10, its bore 11 being cylindrical and a radial slot 1.2 extending from said bore out one side of the body. The latter is enlarged at each end so as to produce a reduced portion or waist 13 which is made cylindrical and of a size to fit the bearing 6, and said waist is cut with notches 14 constituting teeth with which the tip of the pawl 7 engages when the head is mounted within the bearing. I have shown one end of the head as elongated and conical as indicated at 15, and projecting from its extremity at a point about 120 from the slot 12 is a pin 16.

The core broadly indicated by the numeral 20 comprises a cylindrical plug 21 of a length and diameter to fit the bore 11 of the head, this plug being grooved as at 22 along what I will call its under side. Rising from the plug, or at what would be its up per side, is a web or fin 23 which is of a width to fill the slot 12 and is recessed or notched as at 24: so as to complement the contour of the waist 13 when this core is in place -in fact, it may be that certain of the notches 14 in the waist will fall within the upper edge of the fin as shown. The latter is flush at one extremity with one end of the plug, but its other extremity projects beyond the opposite end of the plug into a finger 25 having a rounded tip 26 and an undercut or reduced shank 27all as best seen in Fig. 4. The parts are entirely of metal and of the desired proportions, and I do not wish to be confined strictly to the construction shown so long as the implement can be used as follows:

In making a WVestern Union splice it is the rule to lap the ends of the wires A and B, then coil the wire A at its end around B, and then coil the wire 13 at its end around A, and the finished splice has the appearance of that shown in Fig. 1. In order to twist the wires into a splice of this character, the pliers are opened, the head 10 inserted into the bearing 6, the pliers closed and fastened closed by the loop 9, one wire passed through the groove 12 and its end projected perhaps two inches beyond the revoluble head, and the other wire given a right-angular bend and laid up against the end of the head alongside the projecting end of the first wire. Then the two wires are held side by side, as by a vise or a pair of pliers in the left hand, and a little to the left of the complete'coil'shown in Fig. 1. The handles of my improved implementa-re now raised and lowered rapidly, and it is not necessary to carry them completely aroundthe wires being twisted, as is the case with many twisting implementsnow on the market. Through the pawl and ratchet, this swinging movement of the pliers cau'ses the intermittent rotation of the head in the direction of the arrow shown, and when the pin 16 strikes the right-angular end of the wire B it is carried around the-wire Kill a coil or convolution; Continuedreciprocation of the handles-forms additional coils, and very soonthe round tip'26 of the -finger bears upon such coils and presses them down onto the straight stretch of thewir'e A. This is continued until the outstanding end of the wireB is'used up in convolution's and slips from between the-pin and the' finger. The loop 9 is now thrown back, the pliers opened, withdrawn from the head, the plug 21 re moved from thespool, andboth parts taken off the wire A. Next the operator reverses its position'and lays the wire Bin the'groove 22, slips the plug 21 into the bore 11 of the spool, reinserts the complete head into the bearing 6 of thepliers, locks' their handles together, and repeats-the operation at; the other'side of the splicein a manner which it will not be necessary to detail. 1 shows the VVest'ern Union splice as just being finished; and the'extremity of the second wire as about to pass from between the'pin and finger; It willbe understood that when the end ofany wire isbent out at right angles to its body preparatory to -bendi'n'g such out-bent end around another wire, this end lies between the pin and finger e and in the process of making the coils or convolutions said end falls against the shank 27 of the finger andthe pin prevents a retrograde movement of the head when the handles are swung back for another bite of the pawl on the ratchet. Thus the finger, serves with the pin as a means for holding'and guiding the out-bent-end which is to be coiled around the straight stretch of the other wire, and as soon as one or more'coils' are formed the tip of the fingerserves-to press these coils tightly aroundthe straight stretch so that neat splice results. What I claim is:

A wire twister comprising pliers 'having registering scallops in their jaws and means-for fastening the jaws together whereby the scallops produce a bearing, and a pawl in onejaw projecting'into-its scallop; combined with a revoluble head consisting of ar spool shaped body with a cylindrical bore and a radial slot from the same, the body having a reduced waist fitting said bearing and notches therein for engagement with thepawl, a pin projecting from one endofthe body; and a core consisting of a plug removably fittingsaid bor'e and grooved along one side, a fin' projecting fromthe other side of the pl'ug andfitting said slot, one end ofthe fin being flush'with that end of the plug, andafinger at theother end of the fin proj ecting beyond the correspond ing end of the plug to coact with said pin, the tip of' the finger being turned inward and rounded to contact with the coils of the twist being formed;- I

In testimony whereof I affix my signature;-

ALBERT F. MOORE.

flopies of -this' patent may-be obta-inefl for'five cents each; by addressing the ".Gommissioner of Patents,

Washington; '1): G. 

